I have half a million in cash - what are my options?

[Steve Matthews]

I have $500,000 cash that I'd like to deploy into real estate. I am thinking about going the turnkey route. My question has to do w/ financing.

I am looking at potentially buying SFRs in the 100K range. If I were to pay all cash for the properties, maybe I could buy 5 homes. But if I could finance the homes w/ 20% down, I could potentially buy 2.5 million worth of homes, which would be about 25 homes worth $100K each. My cash on cash return and total ROI would be much higher than if I had purchased just 5 homes for cash (I really wouldn't buy 25 homes and have no money left over. I'd probably buy 15 homes and have some reserves aside to deal w/ issues that come up).

Here's my problem: While I have excellent credit, I only make about $2,000 in income per month. Is it possible for someone like me to qualify to buy so many homes or am I dreaming and will have to pay all cash to buy properties?

Since these properties will be used as rentals, can I buy maybe a couple of properties a year and then use the income from the properties to help finance my next two properties and so on?

Thank you for any feedback, it would be much appreciated.